I will not write a poem about this

I will not write a poem

about this, about watching

my kidneys on a screen

absorbing and expelling

white dye, which is

at least less fattening

than those vanilla milk shakes

they made me drink

for the first x-ray.

Medical technology

surrounds and hums 

around me 

as the technician

says brilliant engineers

designed this wonder

but didn't leave a place

to put your arms.

So she velcros me in 

and I watch the movie,

"The Illuminated Kidney."

Photograph by Виталий Смолыгин via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.